Perejil

So, my post site visit day-to-day has been a little slow. I have been reading up on health education materials to try and learn what i will be teaching in the next few months. Currently, I am 1/4 of the way through Donde No Hay Doctor (Where there is no Doctor), and I must say, i'm overwhelmed, ha!

I ended up meeting a great group of people during their stay the the HUB, whom were organizing a solidarity march towards the border of Haiti to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Perejil Massacre that took place in the Dominican Republic. Long story short, upwards of 20,000 ethnic Haitians were slaughtered with machetes and shot-guns by the Dominican military under the harsh rule of dictator Rafael Trujillo. It was an event that was covered up by the Dominican government, and news never leaked out of the island so the world was kept in the dark while one of the most heinous acts against mankind was carried out. It was never labeled a genocide, but a "systematic campaign of extermination". There was a litmus test to verify if you were Haitian or Dominican, because Dominicans can be very dark skinned as well. They had to say the word Perejil (parsley). That Haitian accent makes it very difficult to pronounce the word correctly, so it was a dead give away.
The motives of the massacre are uncertain and range from land acquisition to general hatred. Members of the  dictatorship were never prosecuted or sentenced because of some legal mumbo jumbo (love politics). Racism against dark-skinned people was very strong all over the world at this time, so its no real surprise that it did not make the headlines.

I was ignorant to this whole incident, and I have been living here for almost 3 years. Dominicans do not really know of it either. Anyways, I hitched a ride with Elaine (most incredible woman ever) her daughter Portia and a handful of study abroad students to the border to join the march (which was only like 1/4 mile). It was a very neat event: 2 simultaneous catholic masses (1 in DR, 1 in Haiti), we lit candles and marched to the border where a river separates the two countries. The river is called Rio Massacre, which means massacre river, and they say that when the killings were taking place that the river was pure blood red. There were not thousands of people, but a small group of maybe over a hundred. It was a very intimate event, very quiet, and moving. We sang hymns, people read poems they had written:

Reminds me of a quote that is on the wall here in the HUB, "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. "- Margaret Mead

I remember being there last night and as the event started to wind down you could hear a voice in the dark distance. From the poorest country in the western hemisphere, a country that has seen so much strife and turmoil in even the past decade, a country marginalized by the rest of the world, came a solitary little voice over and over again, "Merci Anpil!" , which means, "Thank you so much!" in Haitian Kreyol. It brought the entire night into focus. Two small groups of Haitians and Dominicans coming together in the name of solidarity to remember the past and make sure it never happens again. Mutual respect and appreciation. My heart stopped for a second. It was very cool to be a part of this event.

Other than that, I have just been hanging out. I am enjoying the peace, because things are gonna get hot and heavy here soon once we decide on a site. I made arrangements to visit one more site, because it seemed to good to be true. I'm doing that on Monday, but after that we should be good to go.

Adios!